The present invention relates generally to burial caskets, and more particularly to a novel modular lightweight casket which is economical and facilitates shipping in an unassembled kit condition and assembly at the point of use without special tooling.
Through the ages, caskets or burial coffins have taken different forms ranging from ornate caskets made of heavy metal or a combination of wood and metal and generally reserved for the upper class, to caskets of relatively modest design fabricated from pineboards and the like and which afford persons of a substantially lesser economic and social status a respectful burial. More recent trends in casket and burial vault designs have resulted in the development of caskets made from plastic materials which are resistant to moisture and the chemical action of substances in the earth. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,508,319; 2,617,171; 2,806,278; 2,974,390; 3,283,386; 3,879,818; and 4,320,562. Caskets have also been made of asbestos cement composition to resist moisture and chemical action. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,050,817.